Resource meters, in particular utility resource meters, are configured to monitor usage of a particular resource over time. For example, various utilities, such as electrical utilities, water utilities, gas utilities, or other utility providers wish to monitor usage of the resource that they provide, and bill customers of that utility according to usage. Resource meters are therefore placed at each billed location to determine usage at that location to ensure that resource usage is accurately captured.
To facilitate accurate reading of such resource meters, a variety of schemes have been developed. Some systems, in particular for electricity usage meters, where power and data communications capabilities are typically available, the meter itself can be configured to communicate data to a centralized data collection location. Alternatively, in cases where a meter may be powered but may lack a data connection, the meter may be outfitted with a radio frequency transceiver. In such cases, a utility will send a mobile interrogation system (typically, a vehicle travelling through neighborhoods in which the utility provides the resource) through the neighborhood, and that mobile interrogation system will obtain a reading wirelessly from the meter or communication device associated with the reader, thereby eliminating the need for each reader to be personally viewed and recorded by an employee of the utility. These systems typically include “smart meter” systems, that provide realtime or near-realtime monitoring of resource usage.
Although the above metering systems provide improved meter reading efficiency, there are circumstances in which such systems do not work well. In particular, where no localized communication system and no power source are available at the meter location, radio frequency interrogation and wireline data communication are not possible. This may be due to a remote location of the meter, or generally wide geographic dispersement of meters, such that existing interrogation systems are impracticable. For example, in the case of water metering, it is common in rural areas for water meters to be located on property far from roads, electrical lines, or data connections. In such circumstances, it is impossible to provide wireline communication, and either cellular communication or RF, “drive-by” approaches are not feasible as well, due to the unavailability of a data signal, or simply due to an issue of driving past every meter being cost prohibitive.
In these circumstances, a variety of simpler, manual approaches have been considered. Currently, it is common for ranchers, farmers, or other geographically remote water users to self-report water usage on a monthly basis. A water utility may provide a coupon book including discounted water usage in exchange for accurate, monthly water meter readings from each utility customer. The customer is then responsible for viewing each meter associated with him/her, and entering those readings either on paper or into a web interface. Additionally, it requires the customer to manually read each meter on that customer's property each month. This solution therefore suffers from many problems including under- and over-reporting of water usage, unresponsiveness on the part of the utility customer, or other issues. Furthermore, it can be difficult to determine when a particular water main or other resource conduit has been compromised, since usage cannot be reliably monitored. Therefore, in particular for utility districts that distribute utility resources to remote areas where power, communication, or otherwise reading of a meter may be impractical, there remain a number of shortcomings in existing systems.
For these and other reasons, improvements are desirable.